>> morning joe. president obama and chris christie look at the damage up close and chris christie defends his praise for the man he had been spending months campaigning against. plus, as the cleanup gets under way, we'll go live to one of the hardest hit coastal areas. an exclusive look on the ground in seaside heights, new jersey. and as the campaign enters the final five days, did sandy stall governor's momentum? good morning from washington. we've got a packed show today, thursday, november 1st. no more surprises. anything that happens now is a november surprise. i'm chuck todd. the storm recovery is just beginning and as victims try to put their lives back together, the frustration is beginning and it's mounting over just how long that recovery process will take. at least 74 people have been killed by the storm. millions of homes and businesses are still without power. new york city is grinding back into business a little bit and that's producing a traffic

nightmare. the traffic problems are so bad that governor andrew cuomo has declared an emergency and there's a mandate of three people per vehicle for cars entering manhattan between 6:00 a.m. and midnight there. are long lines across the region. wednesday along the garden state parkway in hoboken, about a quarter of city is still flooded and 90% is without power. national guard troops are delivering food to people stuck in their homes. limited service on 14 of the city's 23 subway lines but many trains will have gaps in their routes. many others will remain dark. the mta has waved fares on su ways, trains, and buses, by the way, through tomorrow night. laguardia airport is expected to reopen this morning. it will have reduced service. jfk continues to offer limited service.

in sandy's aftermath, we're seeing chilling new images from the air of neighborhoods destroyed, crushed homes and many other homes destroyed by fire. this scene is echoed up and down the coastline. the president spent four hours surveying hurricane damage with chris christie. with less than a week to go until the election, the two leaders were unlikely bedfellows, practically inseparable. they were treated as well like celebrities, taking pictures together a couple of times, nevermore than two feet apart in my witness there. at a press conference, the president and the governor, who by the way, remember, he was the gop's convention keynote speaker this year, they went out of their way to praise each other's leadership. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state. >> i just want to thank him for his extraordinary leadership and

partnership. >> for the president, it was a chance to comfort this owner of a marina was that destroyed by the storm. >> how long have you had the marina? >> since 1996. >> nothing like this has happened? >> never. >> meanwhile, governor romney spent his time full time on the trail in florida. he was balancing between campaigning and sensitivity for the storm victims. >> keep folks in your thoughts and prayers. it's a big part of what america is, when there are challenges we come together and that help is needed now. >> with five days to go now until the election, both candidates are now back on the trail full time. president obama has set a schedule for the entire home stretch. he kicks it off in the battleground blitz in wisconsin, nevada, and colorado. when he makes his final campaign stop in des moines, iowa, at a rally with the first lady,

that's the only stop that she joins him on. the president will have visited eight of the nine battleground states. the one that he's not going to is north carolina. the 2012 presidential election could hinge on this, will the firewall of iowa, ohio, and wisconsin hold up? and you only have to look at the president's travel over the last five days of the campaign to find out that's where the campai campaign believes the race will be decided. one of them has to be the state of ohio. the president has events in ohio four out of five days on the trail. he stopped in iowa, wisconsin, and colorado two times, each will be in florida and virginia, new hampshire, nevada just once before this campaign is over. today the president will begin laying out what aides say is his closing argument, making a stronger case for government. he will point to the way forward to real change. it will say this apparently in his stump speech that will create a stronger future for all american.

meanwhile, romney heads to three states. he will be in the midwest in wisconsin and ohio. on friday night, ryan, romney, and their wifs kick off the final stretch in westchester, ohio, where they are joined by 100 governors, senators, and mayors. on friday romney travels to new hampshire and colorado. sunday is still up in the air. on the trail in florida, romney began laying out his arguments, a shorter message than last week. >> to get us on track to a balanced budget, that's going to take some real work. to get that done it going to require something in washington that's spoken about but not done and it's something i have to do. i've got to be able to reach across the aisle and get good republicans and democrats to work together. >> meanwhile, we've got new nbc news marist polls and they all show a tightening race. the president leads in the three that released today.

in iowa, president obama maintains a lead. six-point lead over mitt romney. that is down from eight two weeks ago. in wisconsin, romney has cut the president's lead in half from the last time we were there. he trails by three points, well within the margin of error. and then there's new hampshire which is best to be called a dead heat. the president is 49%, romney 47%. by the way, new hampshire is mitt romney's final stop before election day. director of the marist poll joins me now. lee, let's start with iowa, as you might be already aware of. the romney campaign disputes the size of the lead that we have for the president there. they believe this race is a dead heat. you look inside these numbers, what can you tell me about what is giving the president what it appears to be a solid lead, according to our survey? >> several things. mitt romney's favorable, unfavorable is still upside down in iowa, not in new hampshire,

not in wisconsin. iowa is maintaining that pattern that we've seen a lot this fall. it hasn't moved for him. iowa is a huge early voting state and i think if the story of this election ends up being the re-election if it does of president obama, it's going to be all about the early voting and the wider his lead, the wider the state -- the more early voting. >> let me throw up a stat from our iowa poll for folks. among those who say they have voted or will vote early, and mitt romney leads 55/35. so, you know, that is -- that points to the advantage there. i want to move to both wisconsin and new hampshire. i want to put up some job approval numbers for the president. because what's interesting in new hampshire and iowa in particular, the president's job approval was below his ballot cast. >> yeah. and that's what we're seeing here. look, when you're at 49 or 50,

that's an okay number. but that doesn't put a lock on this by any stretch of the imagination. so whether it's his approval rating or what he's getting in the bat lot question against mitt romney, he doesn't have to look too far over his shoulders to see that that's mitt romney. he still only has 50%. the approval rating is a key barometer and, again, high 40s. still an iffy number. it's a very close race and it's gotten closer in each of these three states. >> i want to just emphasize one more time, the job approval rating for the president is 48/48. that looks like a ballot test as much as anything else. and finally, if this election is about the economy, we need to put up our last poll numbers, again, we have the president leading in new hampshire but i look at his job approval lead and i look at this question, romney ahead of obama on the economy in new hampshire. dead even in iowa and wisconsin.

and that's a state that could break -- that of the three that we have today, most likely to break to romney. >> and that's the one that's been trending on the economy romney's way. that has flipped. obama was better on the economy and now it's romney. look, both camps know that new hampshire is is going to get a lot of visitors very soon. >> that's for sure. we've got three more coming over the next four days. i know you're busy in the poll and trying to do our best to make up and do this in the midst of sandy. thank you, sir. >> yeah, my pleasure, chuck. be well. >> all right. turning back now to the destruction that is brought by sandy. the well known city of seaside heights, these pictures have become iconic instead of what used to be ike connick, that roller coaster is sitting in the atlantic ocean. michelle franzen is joining us

now. i can only imagine how bad it looks from the air and now you're seeing it up close. >> reporter: yeah. we definitely had a chance to tour here. just to give you a ground look, this is an area where people would normally be walking on the boardwalk in the morning and running, sitting at the park bemp benches. but it's just ripped apart and just the force of the water, we heard stories of how quickly the water raced into this area. over there at the far end of the pier, you can see the aerial shots of that roller coaster and basically almost like a table cloth ripped from the dinner table is how sandy sort of took that boardwalk out from beneath that roller coaster. and so on the other side of it it's just flopped there in the atlantic ocean, just sitting there. it sort of plays tricks on your

eyes. they are hit hard, they are getting out there again today but still it's another day of rescues for many of the residents who ended up staying here, ignoring the evacuation order and that's what they will be focused on today but they also have a bright day, a nice day to start this cleanup. >> michelle franzen in seaside heights, thank you. touring yesterday, the boats are everywhere. it looks like -- they look like toy boats the way that they were just thrown around. the back of people's driveways, you saw boats just being tossed around in ways that were unbelievable. you have to almost see it to believe it. anyway, coming up, what to watch for in the final days of this presidential contest. i have a stellar panel, if you will, david gregory will be here. from the obama campaign, stephanie cutter and with so

much destruction, how will everyone get to the polls on tuesday? we'll take a deep dive into the storm ravaged areas. but, first, here's a look at the schedules today. it tells you more than i think the polling itself. mitt romney in virginia. the president begins his blitz. all nonstop travel from here on out. we'll be right back. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's time for medicare open enrollment. are you ready? time to compare plans and see what's new. you don't have to make changes, but it's good to look. maybe you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. ♪ medicare open enrollment. now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. ♪

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i guess we're going to say it's eight battleground states now since none is going to north carolina.

what should we watch for? msnbc managing contributor chris cillizza, jonathan martin, and then to help me moderate the hardest -- i had to bring in the ace here, the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. when he found out -- he said, that's always such a mess of a show. let me come in and help. david, i want to start because we had a huge moment yesterday that none of us expected. the october surprise of chris christie and barack obama. >> you know, it's rare that you get a moment where you can play sound from the keynote speaker at the republican convention or subsequent to that saying, he's groping in the dark to find the light switch of leadership and he's not going to find it before he gets to the election and here he is yesterday in the last few days, governor christie can't say enough about the leadership that president obama has

provided, that craig fugate has p provided fema and what is striking talking to people who were there, they have talked three or four times in the last 72 hours. by the time they got to the community center, there was a real bond there. i don't think they were more than two feet apart. >> they were talking about the disaster, politics. i mean, this was the embodiment of working across the aisle. by the way, they were on marine one. it was the two of them plus two other aides. and that was -- it was fugate and two aides and jack lou. >> when more some of the right bash christie for doing this, christie is getting angrier and angrier. he will lash out. >> good governing and good politics.

ta taking care of people in your state. >> i agree with you on number one, colorado. florida over virginia, there will be defeat on that. >> look, this is like be saying the onion is very thin. all of these states are very close. it's not like new hampshire is a ten-point race and colorado is a two-point race. this is up one, down one, up two, down two. the point being, a few weeks ago it seemed florida, virginia, romney's going to win those. but it's not -- we'll get the data, there's no data that has come out of florida or virginia that says that romney has put these away. he spent yesterday in florida and today in virginia. >> new hampshire looks like -- >> i haven't spotted two and three. >> romney has to make up 2 1/2 points in florida and seven points in virginia. that's from the '08 numbers.

and some people say there's more african-americans and hispanics in florida. true. but just from the republican winning counties and margins a few points and democratic counties -- >> florida feels like an easy compared to virginia. >> to me the schedule is better than anything. look at obama's schedule. we're going to go ahead -- it's almost as if they were saying virginia is a luxury but in the obama campaign mind, they are awarding him florida and virginia one stop each. at the end of the day colorado seems to be there but let's give romney virginia. let's give romney new hampshire. i think our poll shows that all of the -- >> romney has been there twice. >> let's look at this map here. let's say you did it that way and the president is spending a majority of time in these

states. they continue to feel best about ohio. that means that they need either wisconsin on their own, colorado on their own, and iowa suddenly becomes a luxury and they could lose that. >> don't you think colorado looks a little better for romney than iowa? >> i would think it's better for romney which means the firewall at the end of the day, there's your firewall. it's ohio and wisconsin. >> when we started this election i feel like we were talking about the rough spell, iowa, wisconsin -- >> how about for romney? >> florida, getting florida, virginia, new hampshire, iowa. >> there will be major indiscriminations from folks in wisconsin who will say governor romney, you were here on august 12th and never came back to wisconsin until the end of october. >> david gregory, the running mate, is paul ryan. >> right. >> some thought it could have been rob portman. what's interesting here is that if ryan comes up short in

getting wisconsin there, and he comes up short in ohio -- >> first of all, rob portman is a senior adviser and he delivered the southern part of the state in 2004 for president bush and i think that ryan gave romney a lift in intangible ways. i think there's a lot of value there and he is from wisconsin. again, i think whether it's wisconsin is the firewall as opposed to iowa is one question. >> the problem is, it doesn't give them enough numbers if you listen to everything else. >> it doesn't added a up in a plausible way that the four of us would say -- >> i spent two days last week in wisconsin talking to a ton of folks on both sides of the aisle. they said to me, after romney puts ryan on the ticket, the numbers moved in wisconsin for governor romney. romney never came back from is wis.

wisconsin. he was back there. >> david gregory, you lived in wisconsin in '04 with bush. >> and he came up short. >> absolutely. >> let's not forget what we talked about was ohio and the fact that they didn't find a way to -- >> we'll see. i'm of the theory, either romney gets 300 plus electoral votes or -- >> or they come up short. thank you, boys. that was god. >> market rundown is next and is president obama playing defense in the midwest? stephanie cutter joins us. first, today's trivia question. when is the last time that a presidential election was held later than november 6th? tweet the answer @chucktodd. victor! i got your campbell's chunky soup.

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president obama is back on the road today for the final sprint to election day holding rallies in wisconsin, nevada, and colorado. if you can't tell where this race is, look at president obama's schedule for the next five days and it seems to be all about ohio. joining me now, stephanie cutter. is it fair to say the schedule is more important to look at than the polling numbers? you guys are in ohio, wisconsin, iowa, colorado multiple times. those are the four most important states to you? >> well, we are actually hitting every battleground state.

and, you know, we feel good about where we are. he's headed out to wisconsin today. he has a solid lead there. colorado we're ahead. so, you know, things are coming together. we've got several different paths to 270. we've talked about it before. i think the path for the romney campaign are really dwindling. >> you guys have talked about ohio with a lot of confidence and yet you are there four out of five days this week with the president. that doesn't -- that doesn't give off a sense of confidence. >> well, chuck, i think it does. because we're hitting several different states each day. we have some time to make up. the president was off the road several days to take care of preparations and response to the hurricane you know and i know that republicans have never won the white house without going through ohio. we are up there and we are up there for a very good reason. just look at the conversation that's been had on the ground in ohio over the past three or four days.

it's et all about whether mitt romney is telling the truth about the auto bailout. the papers are scathing and they are criticizing mitt romney because he's not being truthful about the auto bailout that. is not helpful in the last few days of a campaign. the people in ohio know the president. they know he says what he believes and does what he says and he is headed there to begin making his closing arguments. >> can you explain -- the president the other day on "morning joe" talked about creating a new cabinet agency and the romney campaign is up with an ad about it called cabinet secretary called the secretary of business. what's the difference between a secretary of business and secretary of commerce? >> well, you know, we did -- ano oned government consolidation project many, many months ago. i was still at the white house. it con sole dates all of the different agencies that deals

with exports to make it easier for businesses to sell their products all over the world and grow and thrive here in the un. that's what the president was talking about. and i did see mitt romney's ad putting somebody in charge who knows something about business. we'd love to have that conversation. mitt romney's business experience. because as you know and as he admitted, it wasn't about creating jobs. it was about taking everything you could out of a company to make a profit for yourself but quite often leaving the company bankrupt and workers out of work. >> i want to follow up about worker consolidation. a couple years ago when that program was announced that there were going to be different things, it never went anywhere. why? >> well, i think that there is a proposal on the table. you need congressional action. i think that there are -- if i remember correctly -- dozens of different congressional committees and subcommittees that these issues go through.

it's something the president is committed to. he's already put reforms in place in the government to consolidate programs and make them more efficient. this is about building a modern 21st century government, consolidating what we don't need and making it more effective and it's something that the president has committed to do. >> we're not going to put david axelrod's mustache on the line here but your final campaign is iowa, wisconsin, iowa, is your firewall going to hold? >> yeah, it is going to hold. we feel good where we are. we are ahead in all of these states. i don't think they can point to a clear path way. the firewall is going to hold but we have many different option to the firewall. no one is talking about florida, chuck. we are tied or in some cases ahead in florida. florida could be in the obama victory column and we're

counting on it. >> all right. stephanie cutter, rich yesterday said florida double digits, you say florida could win. two very different visions from the campaigns. stephanie, we'll be talking to you. thank you. >> thanks, chuck. the markets are heading into the second full day of trading this week. becky quick is here, market rundown. now we're going to start getting the normal stuff, weekly jobless claims. >> we're getting our groove back. >> what is going on with ford? >> ford just came out and said that the ceo is going to stick around at least through 2014 and that puts to bed some rumors, expectations that he may be stepping down. he says he wants to stay with us and others say he wants to fix the problems in europe. so that's going to be higher. it's just opening right now but it's going to be higher on that. mark fields was promoted. and the other thing you mentioned is the jobs numbers and, chuck, we are getting back

to the point where we're getting back to the normal numbers. today we have the adp numbers that showed a $158,000 in the private payrolls. they were looking for 125,000. that sets us up for tomorrow and that's the big number. >> who knows. >> the monthly jobs report, the last one before the election. the expect takation is 125,000. >> doesn't that add to the drama? that's the drama. >> right. >> it will be seven points -- it will be 7.9499. >> chuck, you know that this is going to be the most poll littized number. >> i know. >> just a little bit. thank you, becky. next, a look at how the storm is going time pact voting on tuesday. plus, former republican

senator mel martinez. he'll be joining me next from florida. "daily rundown" will be back in 30 seconds. officials insist the recovery effort is foremost on the line and not the election being held in five days. that said, people cast ballots safely next tuesday under way. how this could affect places in

new york and owe figures are now scrambling to accommodate four million voters in new york city alone. the board of election said one option being weighed is having tent near the polling sites where the voters would have normally voted with generators and our workers will be able to serve the voters. that's one option. and for supervisors for northern and central jersey is simply a lack of power. in southern new jersey, along the shore, flooding is also a big problem. and along the beach in ocean county, many election officials can't be reached. these are the people that have to run the election. they can't find them, folks. if you can get to the county clerk office, vote by mail. more than 100 polling places are in the dark but he's very

optimistic to find alternate voting sites or power will get back on in time. to make it easier to cast ballots, absentee voting was extended through saturday. i want to get a better sense of the challenges that these folks are facing in some of these areas. we're going to go to cape may county in new jersey. the area includes cape may as well as ocean city and wildwood. joining me now by phone, thank you for coming on this morning. tell me your assessment this morning. how many polling places will you not be able to open on election day if you were to guess today? >> right now, chuck, in cape may county, we have two possible polling places under water in the city of ocean city. we fair pretty well in cape may county unlike our neighbors

north of us. >> what is your plan to deal with a polling place that you will have to move? how do you tell people about it since obviously there's no power in a lot of these places? it's not clear where people are getting information. how will -- what's the best way to inform voters? >> we will consolidate those polling places into other poll places. we're going to do the math telephone calls and advertisements and signage in the municipalities for which they would be affected. >> and from what you've heard around the state, is this going to be a case -- will counting the votes be impacted? for instance, tell me what kind of ballots you use in your county and is that going to -- is a lack of power going to slow down the count? >> from what i'm being told, they are going to make arrangements to have the

machines in other polling places which won't affect the town on election night. i'm being told that most of the states are in tact. >> all right. michael kennedy, cape may county. it does sound like the hardest hit part is in new jersey. everybody is going to try to figure out how to make this election happen on tuesday. good luck and good luck with the cleanup in getting this election forward. >> thanks, you too. >> the romney campaign argued that the president's firewall is burning in the midwest but is there evidence to back it up? former republican senator mel martinez is a romney supporter. senator martinez, you're in florida. i want to start in florida. the romney campaign with some

bravado were going to win by double digit. what say you? >> i was just listening to stephanie cutter continue to spin things, particularly in nor da. let me tell you, we now have the reality of early voting. the democrats are trying to figure out if we are up where we were four years ago. in fact early voting is going tremendously well among hispanics. we're actually leading. i think it's a terrific bit of news and i think we're beginning to see a trend here and i think romney is closing strong. i think it carries into the midwest. >> i know there's a lot of comparisons to say 2012 not like the 2008. is the better comparison 2004? your feelings on the ground there, is it a very -- were both parties seen energized as similar levels?

is that the sense you're getting on the ground? i'm just curious. >> there was a vibrancy, rallies were huge and the numbers were incredible. romney was here last saturday and he had rallies over 10,000 people in three places. that's not easy to pull off. and that just tells you that people are energized. 25% of voters have voted in orange county already. that's a quarter of the voting population that is going to vote. that just tells you tremendous intensity. i think the intensity edge in florida is absolutely palpable and it's comparable to 2004. i remember traveling in the panhandle and they are leaving early voting, pensacola, panama city, and jacksonville in the lead of early voting. >> i want to ask you specifically about orange county. orange county in 2000, one of the ultimate swing counties in

florida and then it's surely but slowly slipping into the blue column, becoming a little more democratic. big gains populationwise among puerto ricans. what does romney have to do in orange county? can he lose orange county and still lose the state? >> chuck, he's not going to lose orange county. he may lose it but not by much. 16% hispanic unemployment, that's one of the highest in the country anywhere. tremendously high and the combined forces i think is making a real difference. people are hungry for a change and plan for the future. president obama has not offered a vision for the next four years and i think that's where romney has turned this election around. and i've got a plan, i'm going to get this economy going again. we don't need -- by the way,

reorganizing government. i was in the cabinet to reshuffle the chairs of the cabinet. this government doesn't need a reorganized cabinet of jobs and business. what it needs is a president that understands business. >> very quickly, the hispanic vote, does romney have to win to get the state of florida? >> i think romney is going to do much better with the hispanic vote in florida than any other state. >> that's a given because of cubans but is 40 the magic number? >> i think 40 is a very good number for him. >> that's what we'll be watching for. mel martinez, thanks for coming on. supersized panel, everything. i supersized everything. i've got david gregory and a supersized panel. first, the white house soup of the day, one of my favorites that i never got to try, black

bean chorizo. many of the networks are going to join forces to air a one-hour live telethon. scheduled performances include billy joel, sting, and, of course, none other than bruce springsteen. and if you want to lend a hand to people who are suffering from the storm, go to nbcnews.com and click on how you can help and we hope you do. we'll be right back. hungry for the best? it's eb. want to give your family the very best in taste, freshness, and nutrition? it's eb. want to give them more vitamins, omega 3s, and less saturated fat? it's eb. eggland's best eggs. eb's. the only eggs that make better taste and better nutrition... easy.

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surreal endings of a campaign trail. the candidates are hitting four of the battleground states just today. let's bring in robert traynham and michael fieldman michael feldman. mike, you were involved in the 2000, very close to al gore, the 2000 race. when you look at this final week, do you have flashbacks to 2000? do you think this is going to be as close to 2000 and 2004? is that the feel you get from this? >> yes, the posttraumatic stress d disorder is in full swing for my panel. the race has been essentially

even since we knew who the romneys were and it hasn't changed. there have been some flexes and movements in the numbers but we go into electoral advantage there and demographic advantage in some ways but the race is close. >> you know, it's funny. we're all -- there's sort of two schools of thoughts here. you have the data folks and you have the gut folks and you say, this feels like it could break and if it breaks it breaks in one direction. but we haven't had a break since 1980. >> right. >> it's sort of a reminder, we thought, it could break and if it breaks, kerry wins. obama was polling the same way the whole time. in 2000 there was this assumption that it was going to break for bush and it never did. >> for those of us who work long hours, sometimes it's hard to remember, it's exciting. it's an exciting time, right?

it could go either way. i think what you're seeing is part of the reason that it's not. we always talk about a break and then don't end up seeing onenessly. it's all about turnout now. it's all about getting voters to the polls. so who has momentum and who doesn't, it's a momentum game. >> number two, the break for gore and it was barely -- and the real break happened in democratic senate races. >> it's interesting, going back to 1984, very quickly, the difference in that break and obviously we were still in diapers back then -- >> i was out of diapers. maybe i shouldn't have been. >> veg began appeared to have the confidence and appeared to be the incumbent. >> i've had romney people admit to me they have to have some momentum. they believe it's a point in turnout. that's why they are really upset about the state polls.

>> you saw that nice little -- >> they were moving. >> he a it felt like every day they were moving. >> it puts everything in stasis. a little shaky now that the phones are down and power is down in some areas. i think we're flying blind. the polls are out. >> there's nothing wrong with that. >> we're flying live without polls. >> you're not going through withdrawal? >> not at all. >> mike feldman, haley barbour is one that believes that sandy could be the bump that the president needed to get back on the right side of this election. >> well, look, that sounds like a little pre-emptive spinning of the outcome from governor barbour. i don't know. nobody is smart enough to know how the storm is going to play out politically. it has dominated coverage in the last few days in a critical time of an ee electric of the i was

watching last night and the first 15 minutes of the evening newscast was about the storm, as it should be, with president obama and chris christie demonstrating 7:15, 7:20. that was governor romney's portion of the broadcast. i think that's emblematic of how the country is absorbing their news. it pulls the politics down in the public conscious. >> the last four days would have simply been, governor romney brings his message of change. president obama defends his first term agenda. that didn't happen. >> instead, what you're seeing is power of incumbency on display. obama's making the argument to keep the status quo simply by doing his job, whether or not that filters down into the states, you know, we'll see on tuesday. >> i'm going to make everybody do the battleground math when we come back. when was the last time a presidential election was held later than november 6th? the answer, this is not a joke, it was the 2000 election.

only it took us forever to count the results. that election date started on november 7th. it didn't end until december 12th when the supreme court ended up stopping the count in florida. do you have a trivia question we should use on the show? e-mail us at dailyrundow dailyrundown @msnbc.com. whooo! [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego.

let's bring back the panel. there it goes. and his final campaign swing, and it could be, he says, it's his final campaign ever. this is it. final time he starts a five-day, eight-state swing for the five days it will be ohio. mr. feldman, i'm going to start with you. give me the three least likely states left in the battleground, not counting north carolina, the least likely states obama

carries. >> not counting north carolina, well, colorado is going to be tough. i think of all the battleground states, that's probably the closest. >> give me the next two. >> new hampshire, and i think florida, although, i am more optimistic about florida. >> i'm sensing that. >> i think florida could be the odd surprise. >> jim? >> keep an eye on hispanic voters. >> that's what i agree. most pessimistic, romney side. what do you think? >> definitely nevada. definitely iowa. i guess wisconsin. wisconsin, ohio. they need one of those two. >> well, no. one of the other ones. either iowa or ohio or wisconsin. >> liz, what do you sense is the closest state? what's going to be the closest state? >> it's going to be my state.

>> you think it's going to be the closest state? >> i think at the end, that's what we'll see, correct. >> i think it's going to be nevada. >> you think that's going to be the closest? >> yeah, i think that's going to be a razor-thin margin, presumably for romney. >> i'm going to stick with virginia. i've been going back and forth between virginia and colorado. i think it will be one of those two. that's it for this edition of "t"the daily rundown."" before we go, i have to do my shameless plugs. >> my friends and neighbors in new jersey, hang in there. everybody's thinking about you today. >> we all are. that is ditto for everybody. any other shameless plug? >> america, make your decision on tuesday night. my friend is getting married on friday. >> go buckeyes. as in football. >> shameless plug. please, everyone, please, please, please vote so we don't have a recount wednesday morning. >> that's it. we'll be here all week long, all weekend long.

you know that. msnbc will have continuing coverage of the storm recovery and we'll have the president live in green bay later this morning. see you back here tomorrow. coming up, kris jansing. bye-bye.

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